Education Device Review: The future of desktop PC’s?

With devices becoming more and more portable (and in some cases – wearable), we’re often told that ‘the desktop is dead’. This certainly isn’t the case – and the brand new Stone NUC confirms this. At just 4” by 4”, the NUC is almost smaller than most smart phones, but just as powerful as a full-sized desktop.

I didn’t really appreciate how small the NUC was until I realised I could hold it comfortably in one hand. As someone who tends to have a cluttered desk, I can definitely see the appeal of having such a small device. It also looks pretty cool, with its sleek silver and black square design.

But it’s not just looks and a compact design we have to commend the NUC on – the spec’s pretty impressive too. Available with up to 16GB of RAM and a choice of Intel® processors all the way up to the latest 4th gen i-5, it’s a seriously powerful desktop in a mind-blowingly tiny package. It also comes with a standard 2.5” drive bay, offering choice on the vast range of different HDDs and SSDs on the market.

The NUC also comes with a Mini HDMI port, as well as USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports and 8-channel digital audio via the headphone jack, meaning it’s a suitable device for both student use and connecting to large AV devices such as smart boards.

You have the option to mount the NUC onto the back of your existing monitors, so it’s almost like having an all-in-one, with flexibility of having a detachable device. Considering monitor technology moves a lot slower than PC technology it also means you have flexibility when it comes to replacement cycles too – which is also going to keep the school bursars happy.

The capabilities the NUC packs into such a small package are truly impressive. It’s flexible, practical and even portable and it’ll slot in perfectly to any classroom without taking up precious space. It’ll not only appeal to teachers and network managers as a space saver but to students too – they can load up and log on quickly and zip through tasks with very little hassle.